The Los Angeles Riptide went through a significant turnover of its roster since last season, when the team reached the Major League Lacrosse championship game, which it lost to the Philadelphia Barrage 16-13.

Nearly a dozen new players joined the Riptide this season. As a result, the team struggled early on, as the new players tried to mesh with the returning players to form a cohesive unit.

Rookie Kevin Huntley was one of the new players who eventually started to feel comfortable in L.A.’s offense. When he did, he emerged as the top scoring threat he was at Johns Hopkins University, and the team started clicking in time to take second place in the Western Conference behind the Denver Outlaws and earn a bid to MLL Championship Weekend at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass.

The No. 3-seeded Riptide (7-5) take on No. 2-seed Denver (8-4) in one semifinal at noon PDT Saturday, with the winner playing the Rochester Rattlers-Philadelphia winner in the championship game at 10 a.m. Sunday. The championship game will air live on ESPN2. Rochester (9-3) is the No. 1 seed.

The Riptide would not have returned to championship weekend without the emergence of Huntley, a 5-foot-10 attackman who was the 17 th overall pick in the 2008 MLL Collegiate Draft. The Riptide traded up to get him in the second round, and it’s paid off.

“His dad and I are close friends, so I knew he was a good kid with tremendous character,” Riptide coach John Tucker said. “And I knew he could finish as well as anyone in college.”

Huntley set a rookie record with 30 goals, and he did it in nine games. He broke the record of Rochester’s Adam Doneger, who had 26 goals as a rookie in 2003.

“He’s been what we expected and a little more,” Riptide general manager G.W. Mix said. “Tucker and I had our eyes on him for awhile. We felt his game would translate very well into the MLL.”

Huntley was named the MLL Rookie of the Year for his efforts. With coaches and general managers voting, Huntley earned 61 points in the voting, beating out the No. 1 pick in the collegiate draft, Boston’s Paul Rabil, who earned 44 points.

“It’s a pretty big honor, especially considering the great rookie class this year,” Huntley said. “To be thought of that highly by the GMs and coaches is a great feeling. But the key for me is the other guys on the team. There is no ‘me’ on our team. For me to take the credit would be wrong.”

While Huntley doesn’t like to take the credit, others are more than willing to give it to him.

“The award is a credit to what he’s been able to do in a short period of time,” Mix said. “For not being a first-round pick and winning the award over guys picked ahead of him is a tremendous accomplishment.”

Huntley, like the Riptide, started the season slow. He didn’t see any action in the first three games and netted just three goals in the first two games he played in.

“Our policy is to sit most rookies for the first few games if we can afford to,” Tucker said. “Have them sit and observe and get a feel for what the league is like.”

Huntley tallied 18 goals in his next four games, serving notice he was going to be a player to be reckoned with.

“To put it simply, he’s a goal-scorer,” Mix said. “He can score from lots of different areas consistently.”

The Riptide started the season 2-3, then won four of its next five before splitting two games with SanFrancisco to end the regular season.

“I think earlier in the season we were playing as individuals,” Huntley said. “Then we started playing more unselfishly, moved the ball around more and stopped gripping our sticks so tight.”

Huntley, who had seven goals in the Riptide’s playoff-clinching win at SanFrancisco, is no stranger to championship lacrosse. At Johns Hopkins, he was a part of two championship teams – in 2005 and 2007 – and left as the university’s eighth all-time leading scorer with 109 goals. Huntley was a two-time All-American (2006 and 2008) and scored the winning goal in the 2007 title game, when Johns Hopkins beat Duke 12-11.

“The second time we won the title, in 2007, was my greatest memory at Johns Hopkins,” Huntley said. “My freshman year was great too, but I was just along for the ride when we won that title. But in 2007, especially after losing in the quarterfinals my sophomore year, then to come back and win the championship was the most exciting thing.”

Winning the 2007 title meant that he became a part of the only father-son combination to ever win two national titles each at Johns Hopkins. His father, Dave, won national championships at Johns Hopkins in 1978 and 1979.

“To get a chance to play lacrosse at Johns Hopkins is a great opportunity,” Huntley said. “And to do the same thing my dad did was really special.”

Tucker describes Huntley, who lives at home with his parents in Towson, Md., as a “toad-sloth,” and wonders sometimes if Huntley is awake when he’s not playing.

“He moves slow, to his own beat, but he’s a funny kid,” Tucker said.

Once Huntley is on the field, his motor cranks up and he becomes a scoring machine. Now he’s gunning to win a championship on the professional level.

“We’re going to have to play unselfishly and keep the ball moving,” Huntley said. “Create and keep it loose.”

Dave Thorpe is the local sports coordinator for the Daily Breeze. He has been covering local sports in the South Bay for the Daily Breeze since 2006. He previously was the sports editor at the Palos Verdes Peninsula News.

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